Philippine president orders ban on smoking

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed an executive order that will impose a wide-ranging ban on smoking in public, reinforcing some of the toughest anti-tobacco measures in Asia.

Smoking and selling cigarettes will be banned in all enclosed public places, as well as within 100 meters (330 feet) of schools, parks and other areas where children gather, according to the order published late Thursday and which takes effect in 60 days.

Duterte, a firebrand leader most famous for waging a war on drugs in which thousands of people have died, had promised immediately after becoming president last year to introduce the smoking ban as part of a range of measures to impose more order on society.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he speaks shortly after arriving in Davao on May 16, 2017, from a working visit to China. (Photo by AFP)

Duterte rose to prominence as the longtime mayor of the southern city of Davao, which he said he transformed from being crime-ridden into one of the nation’s most livable and safe urban centers.

However his critics have said Duterte has supplanted the rule of law with his war on drugs, alleging he has triggered a killing spree by police and vigilantes, who have been spurred on by his calls for tens of thousands of people to die.

The Philippines already has a ban on tobacco advertising and smoking in indoor public places, as well as a law that requires graphic images of smoking health hazards to be printed on cigarette packaging.